TechEye |  |
- Intel expands Quark
- Sony finds new life in magnetic tape
- Elop gets $33.4 million for leaving Nokia
- Google cashes in on Glass costs
- Patent jury ponders Steve Jobs
| Posted: 01 May 2014 03:10 AM PDT Intel has expanded its Quark family of embedded ultra-low power microprocessors with a new X1020 SKU. Quark processors use a single Pentium core with 512KB of on-chip SRAM for faster memory access, an SIMD unit, a single-channel DDR3 memory controller, and several standard interfaces, such as PCI-e 2.0, Ethernet and USB 2.0. All Quark chips run at 400MHz, and have 16KB of unified L1 cache. With just 2 Watt - 2.2 Watt TDP, the processors are a good fit for low power applications, such as embedded devices. The only difference between members of the Quark family are the optional features which Intel provides. CPU World said that the Quark X1020 supports ECC memory and Secure Boot technology. This will mean that only authorised software is executed on the platform which will make this Quark more useful for products which need more security and the product marker does not want them changed. The processor also supports another feature, which is encoded as "S1" in its part number which no one is sure what it does yet. Previous Quarks used an extended operating temperature range. New X1001, X1011 and X1021D are qualified to operate from -40°C to +85°C, while offering the same performance and feature-set as Quark X1000, X1010 and X1020D models. This new one operates in the boring standard 0-70 degree range. The X1020 is priced at $11.45. |
| Sony finds new life in magnetic tape Posted: 01 May 2014 03:05 AM PDT Sony has developed a new magnetic tape technology that is touted to feature the world's highest areal recording density of 148 Gb/in square. This is 74 times more data compared to the traditional magnetic tape media. The nano-sized tape optimises the way it sends argon ions on to film in order to create magnetic material, and the 185TB of storage per cartridge makes a 5TB hard drive look like old tech. Sony said that it is developing a soft magnetic underlayer with a smooth interface using sputter deposition and has managed to create a nano-grained magnetic layer with fine magnetic particles and uniform crystalline orientation. It will mean that it is possible to record more than 185 TB of data per data cartridge. Sony will jointly announce these results with IBM Corporation, which assisted with measuring and assessing the recording density of this new technology, at the INTERMAG Europe 2014 international magnetics conference to be held in Dresden, Germany beginning on May 4. In recent years, the rapid recovery of data systems such as databases and data servers following natural disasters, as well as secure management of information has become more important,. Cloud services and the creation of new markets to utilize big data have led to a growing need for a data storage media which can store large amounts of information. The company said it will work towards commercialising this next generation tape storage media, as well as the development of increasingly advanced thin layer deposition technologies based on the sputter method, with the aim of increasing recording densities even further. |
| Elop gets $33.4 million for leaving Nokia Posted: 01 May 2014 03:04 AM PDT When Nokia CEO Stephen Elop started getting cosy to Microsoft, some shareholders thought that he was simply a stooge of the shy and soon to be retiring CEO Steve "there is a kind of hush" Ballmer. But it turns out that Elop has done rather well for himself out of having Microsoft buy the company. Not only is he now the executive vice president (EVP) of the Microsoft Devices Group overseeing an expanded devices business that includes Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel products, and accessories, he is also $33.4 million richer. With the Nokia/Microsoft deal officially closed last week on April 25, it was revealed that Elop was paid $33.4 million in cash and shares after he left Nokia, and thanks to rising Nokia share prices, he got more than expected. Elop himself is returning to the software giant after the deal closed on Friday, and based on Nokia's share price in September he had been in line to get around $26 million for the early termination of his contract. Elop's severance payment includes just over $5.55 million in cash when he stood down as Nokia chief executive in September and led the phone unit from then until the closing of the deal with Microsoft. The unit's operating loss widened to $424.39 million in the first quarter of this year. Microsoft paid 70 percent of the total severance payment, and Nokia the remaining 30 percent, Nokia said in its 2013 annual report. All up, it is a good result for Elop. Not only does he return to the Vole Hill in triumph, he is stonkingly rich and in a stronger political position in Microsoft. |
| Google cashes in on Glass costs Posted: 01 May 2014 03:02 AM PDT Google's $1,500 price tag for its Google Glass project might be just rampant profiteering as it only costs the outfit $80 to make. A teardown published by Teardown.com said that the hardware used in the Glass amounts to a mere $80. The CPU, a TI OMAP 4430, was the costliest item on the list at $13.96. All the wireless sensors as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios combined accounted for $10.79, while the 5 MP camera was valued in at $5.66. The touchscreen display was said to be one of the costliest components in the Glass, but Teardown's analysis revealed that it only costs $3. This $80 is much lower than a teardown which was carried out last year which revealed that the bill of materials for the device was at $208. Even accounting for the cost involved in customising the hardware to fit into the unique design of the Glass, the device would not have cost Google more than $250 to manufacture. Google has always said that the $1,500 price for the Glass was to limit the device only to technology enthusiasts. It said that a consumer version of Glass would launch later this year, although the price of this device wasn't mentioned. Considering it comes with similar hardware as the current iteration, it should be around the $300–$350 mark. But if the outfit is able to make them for $80 it means that it will still be selling the specs with a huge mark up. When contacted, a Google spokesman called Teardown.com's cost estimate "absolutely wrong". While Teardown's estimates might be too low it is fairly clear that the hardware is fairly cheap. With a product like Glass, it is not always down to the cost of the hardware that is included in the device, as other factors, like design, build quality and software features should also be taken into account, but still how much does it cost to make a pair of glasses? The website does say that these figures were rough estimates, and that the numbers might change after a thorough review but we suspect that those who paid $1,500 are going to get a kicking from their significant others for wasting cash. |
| Patent jury ponders Steve Jobs Posted: 01 May 2014 02:58 AM PDT The jury deciding the $2.2 billion patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung has apparently been focused on Steve Jobs' "thermonuclear war" comments. The jury is concerned about what Steve Jobs said when he decided to sue Samsung and whether he also wanted to go after Google. In a note to the judge, the jury wanted to know what Steve Jobs said when he directed or decided to prosecute a case against Samsung? Was Google mentioned and/or included in that directive or subsequent directives to be included in any way in the case? Google s responsible for much of the Android software code being fought over but wasn't named by Apple in its lawsuit which was something that Samsung had used in its defence, arguing that it didn't develop the software in question. The jury also asked how Apple chose the five patents it is pursuing against Samsung, how Samsung chose the two patents that make up its counter case, and what Samsung's top executive said when the case against it was launched by Apple. Unfortunately the jurors found out that the answers to those questions fell outside of the information they can ask for. Samsung's lawyers wanted the jurors to be referred to a Steve Jobs 2010 memo in which he called for a "holy war" against Android, Apple lawyers argued that the document didn't answer the question of what he said at the time the decision was made to sue Samsung. US District Court Judge Lucy Koh agreed and answered all four questions with the same answer: You have all the evidence available to you in the case and you need to make your decision based on what you have. What this means however is that the jury appears to be thinking that Samsung might have been caught in an anti-competitive proxy fight between Apple and Google. This would be bad news for Apple which hoped to put the fear of Jobs into Google's suppliers so that they were too frightened to use Android, or were prepared to pay a lot of dosh to Apple to use it. |
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